Drinking very hot drinks such as coffee or tea “probably” causes cancer, the UN’s cancer agency has said.

It is believed the temperature, rather than the substance of the drinks, causes cancer of the oesophagus and becomes a risk once beverages have a temperature above 65 degrees celsius, AFP reports. The announcement follows a review of more than 1,000 scientific studies on whether there is a link between coffee and cancer, conducted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.